Format confirmed for this year's EFL Trophy

[Garawa]

A total of 64 clubs will compete in the competition beginning with 16 groups of four teams, each of which will include at least one club from each of Leagues One and Two, along with one invited team. The top two sides in each group will then go into a knockout stage that will culminate in a showpiece final at Wembley Stadium on April 2.

The new look competition will also have an enhanced prize fund with an expected £1.95m being up for grabs, including £10,000 per win and £5,000 per draw during the Group Stage and £100,000 for the eventual winner.

The first 16 clubs with Category One Academies that have been invited to take part in the EFL Trophy 2016/17 are Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United.

Competition format

Clubs:

- 48 clubs from League One & Two.

- 16 invited Category One Academy teams.

Eligibility Criteria:

- EFL Clubs – a minimum of 5 ‘First Team’ players in the starting 11 as defined under the competition’s existing rules.

- Invited Clubs – 6 of the starting 11 to be U21 (as at June 30).

Group Stage:

- 16 groups of 4 teams organised on a regionalised basis.

- Groups to include one invited club and at least one club from each of Leagues One & Two.

- Clubs to play each other once, either home or away. Invited clubs will play one home game at the club’s first team stadium.

- Clubs will be awarded 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw. In the event of a drawn game (after 90 minutes), a penalty shootout will be held with the winning team earning an additional point.

Knockout Stage:

- Round 2 (32 teams) will remain regionalised with each group winner being drawn at home to a second placed team from a different qualifying group.

- Round 3 (16 teams) and Round 4 (8 teams) will be ‘free’ draws.

- Semi-finals (4 teams) will be a 'free’ draw and will consist of single ties played at the stadium of the club drawn first in each tie

[Garawa]

This is supposed to "rejuvenate" the competition (not sure it needed that), assist the development of young players (how?) and will be reviewed at the end of the season. Not sure any of this is needed, none of England's failing were down to lack of decent competition and I'm not sure a home tie against Leyton Orient for Chelsea is going to make any difference. Better the players are on loan in a squad of similar players so they have to work hard.

The format is intriguing however. Looks like we will be facing Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Southampton or West Ham Under 21s.

[gillsfan1066]

Don't quite get it, can anyone on here name two players on a Premier League Under 21 Team , and does anyone really want to see us play the West Ham's under 21 team except Ms. Fanny Mulligan I can not exactly see them bringing more than half a dozen Moms and Dads to see the game, especially as it is likely to be on a Monday or Tuesday night , so Gillingham FC v West Ham under 21's , whats the crowd going to be 1,900 ??
Time to give all kids that play on a school team free admission and I guess we had better pray for a" nice winter" , could be backed up till June if the weather is bad this year .

[lidbid46]

If they included these games in our season tickets there may be a better crowd. I resent paying more money on mediocre games.

[Garawa]

Chicago, 1900 is a good crowd for a normal game so I'd expect that to be half if we had a home tie against Reading Under 21s!

This is fast turning into farce. We all thought this was what EPL sides wanted pushed through but it seems not and is a general idea from the top. Apparently Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs have not taken up the invitation to compete while Manchester United, Liverpool and West Ham say it is unlikely they will enter. Stoke City, Middlesbrough, Everton, West Brom and Swansea have confirmed they will participate and invitations will be sent out to other clubs in order to fulfill the 16 slots. At this rate we could be playing ourselves in the trophy! Stupid.

[lidbid46]

Not that daft; if we play with ourselves we will all get a lot of pleasure out of the occasion! We could also win our first major trophy that way!

[Garawa]

Who do you support though?!

[gillsfan1066]

Himself and playing with himself, jeezzz these moderators and the things they do behind the scenes, lol.

[lidbid46]

He he he!!